IRISH swimming ace Daniel Wiffen has bagged the gold medal in the 800m Men’s Freestyle in a first for Ireland at Paris 2024.
The 23-year-old, who was the fastest qualifier in a blistering 7:41:53, completed the race in a whopping 7:38:19 – making it a new Olympic record.
Wiffen, from Magheralin which straddles the border of Armagh and Down, was one of the favourites for gold after setting the fastest time in the heats.
He follows Mona McSharry’s bronze medal last night, Ireland’s first medal of the games.
Daniel’s incredible win marks Ireland’s first ever medal in men’s swimming, an ninth overall for the nation.
As he was handed his first ever gold medal, the normally very composed and collected Daniel shed a few tears – along with the rest of the country.
Speaking poolside after his incredible win, Wiffen said: “I don’t think a lot of people actually believed me that I was going to do it tonight but yeah it was incredible. I’ve done it – that’s all I want to say!
“I was so nervous, that’s the most nervous I’ve ever been for a race but do you know what calmed me down – I heard by brother shout for me as soon as I walked out. I heard none of the crowd – just him, and that’s what calmed me down, and really levelled my head.
“I’m not going to lie, there’s this whole saying going around that I’m getting ‘Finked’ – I’m glad to say I haven’t been ‘Finked” so obviously pretty happy to get my hand on the wall first.
“It feels incredible. Andrew Bree said it just as I want to say it –‘lights, camera, action’ – that’s exactly what I did – I’m writing myself into the history books!”
Sharing his congratulations, Taoiseach Simon Harris was full of praise following the race.
He wrote on X: “Yes Daniel Wiffin! Masterful. Gold for Ireland.
“Those last 100 metres were mind blowing!! World class. Olympic record.
“I met Daniel’s parents Rachel & Jonathan & brother Nathan at the weekend so know this is a dream come through for the whole family.
“You’ve made us so proud!”
Joining in with the sheer delight, Tanaiste Micheal Martin also took to X.
He said: “Outstanding performance by Daniel Wiffin to win GOLD for Ireland this evening.
“Have just arrived in Paris and delighted to catch the race with our embassy team and sports administrators.
“What an achievement for Daniel and his family!”
Comedian Dara O’Briain simply put it: “Yessss! Daniel Wiffen, you legend!”
While Today FM host Matt Cooper said: “That was one of the greatest Irish sporting moments. Sensational finish by Daniel Wiffen.”
The ace swimmer previously dipped his toes in the acting world, working as an extra in the hit TV series Game of Thrones, which was partly filmed in Belfast.
Daniel Wiffen on his twin brother's support
By Neil O'Riordan
THEY say twins do not always need to talk in order to communicate to each other.
But hearing his brother Nathan’s voice in La Défense Arena provided the calm before Storm Daniel.
Wiffen may have walked out with a pep in his step but he admitted that his nerves were playing up as he prepared to dive into the pool.
He said: “I was definitely not relaxed. “But only voice I heard in the crowd was my twin brother Nathan’s. That’s what actually kept me level-headed when I walked out and yeah, I mean it was just written in the stars.
“I said it here before, Bastille Day is my birthday, 100 years since Ireland competed.
“And Armagh winning, that was the other one, I knew that I missed one. I mean what can we say we’re All-Ireland champions and Olympic gold medalists, what a great county.
“But there was also a storm at nine o’clock.
“I said to my coach Steve Beckerleg, ‘We’re renaming that storm, Storm Daniel’, because that was the time the 800 was on.
“I had been training for every different scenario that is going to happen. Normally I would only train one way and that’s to try hold on, burn everybody out in the middle.
“But I knew that the Olympics is completely different and you don’t know how you are going to feel in the first hundred.
“So my first 300 metres was absolutely terrible, my stroke was all over the place. I was just so nervous that I couldn’t get any stroke in but luckily I had a good enough easy speed to keep it going and I was still in the race.
“Then my goal was to keep building, building and building…”
As had happened in the heat, Australian 400m specialist Elijah Winnington had gone out hard and led for most of the first half of the race.
But Wiffen– who was fourth at the 150m mark – never panicked and had overhauled him by the midway point with American Bobby Finke moving into second.
It became apparent that Gregorio Paltrinieri was also a threat as the Italian first of all overhauled Finke and then started to eat into Wiffen’s lead which was down to one hundredth of a second by the 600m mark.
And it was no surprise when he then overtook the Armagh man and he led by 0.67 seconds at the 650m mark and 0.78 seconds with 100m to go.
But fought back in those final two lengths and was within one-tenth of a second of the leader with 50m to go at which point he simply blew him away.
He finished in a time of 7:38.19, shaving more than three seconds off the previous Olympic record, set by Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk in Tokyo.
Finke finished ahead of Paltrineri too but the fact that all three were well within the old Games record showed just what an epic race it had been with Wiffen keeping an eye on the Yank in the closing stages.
He said: “I was literally looking at Bobby Finke. That’s all I was doing.
“I was like, ‘this guy comes about the fastest’, well, not the fastest any more. I was like we need to have at least a body length on him.
“I was doing this weird lopy stroke to try to have a look.
“I was dying for the last 20 metres because my arms were in so much pain.
“But I knew that the crowd was going carry me in and that’s exactly what happened. I saw the red light on the block and then that was it.”
Incredibly, Wiffen admitted that this was not the event he had expected to strike gold in.
On Saturday he competes in the 1500m heats, with the final the following day, and he also plans to compete in the 10km open water swim.
He said: “This is going to sound really weird but I’ve dreamed of this moment so many times in my head, I’ve gone over it so many different ways about how it was going to happen.
“In my eyes, I didn’t really think I was going to do it in the 800m because it’s not my favourite event. My favourite event is the longer distance stuff. The 800m is obviously quite a new event in the Olympics but I’m an 800m Olympic champion, it feels great and exceeded my expectations.
“My goal is obviously to be back on the podium again. I’ll get the recovery in, I will enjoy myself, I will try to treat myself to whatever they have in the Village, I don’t know what they have, and in the 1500, just get through the heats and see what happens.”
Daniel previously revealed how he and his identical twin brother, Nathan, – who is also a prodigious swimmer – managed to nab a role in in the iconic ‘Red Wedding’ scene.
Recalling how the twins landed a background role in Game of Thrones after their sister Beth was cast in the fantasy series, Daniel said: “I didn’t really know about Game of Thrones when I was younger.
“My parents wouldn’t let me watch it, but my sister got a really good role in Game of Thrones, she was one of the Frey daughters. So she came in and did her bit, and then we came in for the Red Wedding in the background – which was pretty cool.”
The brief appearance by the Wiffen twins on Game of Thrones fuelled their love of acting and they also shared the role of Henry Bowyer in an episode of The Frankenstein Chronicles.
Daniel explained: “Acting’s big for twins when they’re younger.”
Straight-talking Wiffen had previously revealed how the grub in the Olympics village wasn’t quite up to par.
The star said: “Yeah it’s so good…I mean, the food in the Village is a bit terrible honestly.
“But everything else is class. I love our flat, our team atmosphere, everything.
“I just love being part of Team Ireland.”
As Wiffen went into battle in the pool, Olympic marvel Mona McSharry’s family spoke of their pride in their medal winning girl, declaring: “She’s our hero.”
The Sligo sensation stormed to a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke final on Monday night to secure Ireland’s first gong at the Paris Games.
Magic Mona, 23, is basking in the glory of scooping the country’s first Olympic swimming medal since 1996.
And her overjoyed mum Viola McSharry hailed her daughter’s “fantastic” achievement and “the love and support” from the Irish public.
Viola, who is in Paris supporting her girl, beamed: “There are nearly tears coming back to my eyes, it was such a fantastic moment for all of us and to be there, it was really something else.
“If you look back at the scoreboard and see how tight it was…it was just…it could have gone anyway for the girls that were swimming there.
“The Irish people are really, really good at supporting their own…we felt that.”
After a close-run race, the delirious mum recalled the “special” moment when Mona was confirmed as a medal winner.
Viola said: “You’re waiting for the moment when the board comes up with the official result at the end and that was just such a relief, such a joy.
“It was really amazing. It’s like something that happens in slow motion beside you, it’s a weird feeling – it’s hard to describe.”
And Viola revealed how her emotional family wrapped Mona “in a big old family squeeze hug” in the Paris Defense Arena to celebrate bagging bronze.
She said: “We said nothing, we just gave her a hug. A big old family squeeze hug.”
The McSharry family admitted Mona had considered quitting swimming two years ago after becoming physically and mentally worn out by the sport.
Viola said: “It was a hard time, it wasn’t up to us to tell her what to do. If she would have said to us back then and said, ‘Look, that’s it, I’m finished, I really don’t want to do this anymore,’ that would have been fine with us, it’s not like we’re pushing her, we just want her to be happy.
“If you’re not happy at the sport you’re doing, the job you’re doing, it’s not worth it.”
But determined Mona stuck at swimming and has now gone on to make waves in Irish Olympic history.
Reflecting on her daughter’s journey from nearly quitting the sport to a podium in Paris, Viola declared: “It was a really special moment.”
IRISH LINKS
Meanwhile, tributes also flooded in another bronze medal swimmer with an Irish link.
Hong Kong representative Siobhan Haughey, grandniece of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, took third place on Monday in the women’s 200m freestyle – three years on from winning two silvers in Tokyo.
Tanaiste and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin congratulated 26-year-old Siobhan, saying her win was a “fantastic result” and a “proud day” for the Haughey family.
Speaking from Paris, Fianna Fail TD Sean Haughey told how a “big gang” had travelled over from Dublin to see Siobhan compete and had waved both Hong Kong and Ireland flags during the race.
Deputy Haughey, Siobhan’s second cousin, described the race as “very exciting” and revealed he also celebrated with the family of Team Ireland swimmer McSharry after her bronze triumph.